Cell, landline service out in parts of NorCal

SAN JOSE, Calif. 
Vandals severed eight fiber optic cables early Thursday in San Jose and another nearby town, leaving thousands of people without cell phone, Internet and landline service, officials said.

San Jose police said there was evidence that someone removed a manhole cover and severed four fiber optic cables. The incident cut phone and Internet service for thousands in Santa Clara County, including Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin, and parts of Santa Cruz County.

Hours later, authorities in San Carlos reported that four cables there had also been cut.

In addition to interruptions in phone and Internet, ATMs in Gilroy and Morgan Hill were not working Thursday, said Santa Clara County spokeswoman Joy Alexiou.

Police in both cities are investigating the incidents as vandalism. Police said four of the six lines belong to AT&T Inc. The company announced it is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Verizon Communications spokesman John Davies said about 52,000 of its landline and Internet customers were without service, mainly in the Morgan Hill and Gilroy areas. By 5 p.m. Thursday, Verizon customers' service had been restored in Santa Clara County, although customers in Santa Cruz County were still without service.

Sprint also owned one of the severed cables, which cut service to thousands of its customers.

Emergency responders went into immediate action Thursday morning, said Alexiou.

"Our concern is 911. If someone is having an emergency and can't make a phone call, they should go to the nearest firehouse, police station or hospital emergency room," Alexiou said. "We have people at those areas with radios."

Alexiou said the sheriff's department doubled patrols in affected areas since the outage. Also, personnel were going door-to-door conducting welfare checks on vulnerable populations like seniors and the disabled.

Santa Clara County declared a local state of emergency to allow officials to recoup some of the costs of maintaining public safety while the 911 system was down, Alexiou said.

An AT&T spokesman said the company is working hard to restore service, and that the vandals must have been well prepared to sever the thick, strong cables.

Spokesman John Britton said four of the severed cables were the width of a silver dollar and were covered in tough plastic.